SHANE Lowry’s calls to outlaw AimPoint putting have found support from fellow pros in recent months.
The debate over its impact on the pace of play continues to stir up strong opinions across the golf world just one week removed from the season’s opening major at Augusta National.
Lowry first took aim at the method last year during an interview with golf journalist Daniel Rapaport, saying if he could change one rule, “AimPoint” would be it.
When asked to elaborate, he said: “You’re not allowed to straddle in the line.”
AimPoint, a green-reading method that helps players gauge slopes and break by “feeling” the green with their feet, is regularly used by top names including Keegan Bradley, Max Homa and Collin Morikawa.
But Lowry, Lucas Glover and others have voiced growing frustration, pointing to its role in slowing down rounds.
Lucas Glover, speaking on his SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show earlier this year, took things a step further.
2009 US Open winner said: “Statistically, [AimPoint] hasn’t helped anybody make more putts since its inception on the PGA Tour.
“It’s also kind of rude to be up near the hole, stomping around figuring out where the break is in your feet. It needs to be banned. It takes forever.”
Jason Day joined the critics too as he spoke out against the Mark Sweeney’s AimPoint system.
Speaking to Dan Rappaport, the Aussie said: “I’m not an anti-AimPoint guy.
“The only thing that I don’t like is that when it’s your putt, they’re in there reading theirs.”
Calls for action have grown louder following complaints about sluggish play at recent events, including the Farmers Insurance Open and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Rory McIlroy labelled the pace at last year’s Masters ‘horrific’, and it wasn’t much better a year prior when Jon Rahm won at Augusta National.
And just last weekend, World No.1 Scottie Scheffler could only laugh as the AimPoint debate took a theatrical turn during the Houston Open.
Min Woo Lee poked fun at the method by adopting an exaggerated stance before calmly rolling in a putt to win the tournament.
Cameras showed the reigning Masters winner laugh from the locker room as the Australia had a cheeky dig at the system.
